Modeling pictures I took of my niece today, and a question about charging...

[Janie]

My niece is starting to do some modeling so i'm working on some portfolio shots for her. I did some of my nephew which landed him a small part on "rescue me" and an ad for recycling. So, with this sort of work in mind, i'm looking for feed back on shots I took today. I just took her to a reallly cool garden park and shot on fully automatic because it was beautiful out for shooting! ;-)

Now here is a question for you - the agency that is getting her work wants to know if I have a studio, which I do not, I shoot on location. How much would you charge to photograph kids portfolio pics if you only do location? I have a portable light kit to bring to client's houses, as well. I'm almost thinking of having a little seminar on helping kids learn how to become photogenic. With my nieces, i make them jump for a few seconds then yell FREEZE and Pose! That is when I get the best shots! They want to know if I can make up comp-cards too! Where and how do you make those up! (remember, i shoot real estate professionally! lol)

[drg]

You charge more for location. After all, you have to haul everything with you. Generally it's pretty accepted that you'll have assistants on location. Whether you use a stylist or not, an assistant of some sort is always handy to wrangle the kids or the talent.

I do catalog work on site for greenhouses and custom nurseries (one of my great PR faux pas was getting the wrong name on a plant @#!$#) and that is all done on site. Usually thats three to four people with two photogs. Literally hundreds of photographs.

Depending on the number of models, someone needs to keep straight who is who and what you are shooting. If you do a catalog for even a small boutique, the number of items that need to be kept straight and sequential can be pretty astounding.

For the comp-cards, what size? Do they want the new style business cards with photos, or do they want the profile/head shot with stats on the back (such as height/weight/dress/coat size/ shoe size)
or do they just want promo shots of models in quantity for hand outs? Get a sample of what they want and go to your favorite commercial print shop and get a quote and then mark it UP!

You might even want to find a modeling instructor to work with so you can concentrate on photographing them. Moms and Dads will pay unreal amounts of money to get junior to stand up straight if nothing else. It can be an ugly business at times.

If you are serious about this facet of the biz, set a day rate just for you! Everything, and I mean everything else is extra. One of the current scheduled fees is one called Digital Services. This is what you charge for recording, storing, and deliverying the digital format of your work. After all there's no more film charges. Get accustomed to charging for a Photographic Assistant at least. Its amazing what another set of eyes can do for what you'll capture on site.

Good luck!

[Janie]

Hmm, i don't usually use an assitant - i've had a couple but they annoyed and distracted me from the shoot questioning everything i did - which really pissed me off. huge no-no! lol I guess i'll check out some printing places tomorrow, although i did some reseach tonight and found a few that charage $125 for 100 comps - these are the standard 5x7s. I could just chage more, i guess $150 or so?

You charge more for location. After all, you have to haul everything with you. Generally it's pretty accepted that you'll have assistants on location. Whether you use a stylist or not, an assistant of some sort is always handy to wrangle the kids or the talent.

I do catalog work on site for greenhouses and custom nurseries (one of my great PR faux pas was getting the wrong name on a plant @#!$#) and that is all done on site. Usually thats three to four people with two photogs. Literally hundreds of photographs.

Depending on the number of models, someone needs to keep straight who is who and what you are shooting. If you do a catalog for even a small boutique, the number of items that need to be kept straight and sequential can be pretty astounding.

For the comp-cards, what size? Do they want the new style business cards with photos, or do they want the profile/head shot with stats on the back (such as height/weight/dress/coat size/ shoe size)
or do they just want promo shots of models in quantity for hand outs? Get a sample of what they want and go to your favorite commercial print shop and get a quote and then mark it UP!

You might even want to find a modeling instructor to work with so you can concentrate on photographing them. Moms and Dads will pay unreal amounts of money to get junior to stand up straight if nothing else. It can be an ugly business at times.

If you are serious about this facet of the biz, set a day rate just for you! Everything, and I mean everything else is extra. One of the current scheduled fees is one called Digital Services. This is what you charge for recording, storing, and deliverying the digital format of your work. After all there's no more film charges. Get accustomed to charging for a Photographic Assistant at least. Its amazing what another set of eyes can do for what you'll capture on site.

Good luck!

[Lionheart]

my two bits as a business owner:
Charge for the product you're delivering, ask a fair price, and deliver more than they paid for. Don't give it away by any stretch of the imagination, but always try to deliver more than they paid for. You're charging for your time and effort for the most part, regardless of where you shot the photos, so be fair to yourself and charge enough so you don't feel dinged, otherwise you'll begin to resent doing this line of work.
(to master Yoda you listen, mind what you have learned, save you it can-underpayment leads to resentment, resentment leads to suffering, suffering leads to anger, and anger leads to the Darkside, and forever will it dominate your path -sorry, it's late and I just had to throw in the corny Star Wars lines in there)
Leon

[Asylum Steve]

Janie,

Nice pics...

I agree with LH. You fees should be based on USAGE. IOW, you decide on a service you will offer, in this case portfolio shots, and then either come up with a package rate (the shoot plus expenses plus prints), a day rate (charge for the shoot, expenses and prints seperately), or some combination of the two.

Your fees should be based solely on providing your client with the images, not at all on what or how much equipment you have and where you need to haul it to work. Having what you need to work and getting it to the shoot location is your responsibilty, not the clients.

If anything, studio shoots are usually more expensive, as any studio or equipment rental fees are usually passed along to the client, or at least figured into the rate.

As for comp cards, I'd be very wary of getting involved in producing them. They are a ton of work to do with very little profit margin. Clients may want other photogs' images included (after all, no comp card should be just pics from a single shooter), and may want to update them often. You'll soon find yourself swamped doing comps with no time to shoot. You may also get blamed if the printing job is not perfect, or if colors are off or anything like that.

Trust me, a $25 markup on a comp card order is probably not worth all the running around and extra work you'll have to do...

I simply provide digital files of images on disk. It is then very easy for the agencies or client to have comps printed cheaply at a professional printer...

BTW, a fashion stylist and an assistant on a paid model test is a bit of a luxury, unless of course, you have them on salary or they're interning or trading out for prints. There simply is no room in an agency's budget for their fees...